Doctors in Anti-Abortion States Now Have No Idea When They ’re Allowed to Save a Pregnant Person’s Life

One of the first patients emergency medicine physician Dr. Taylor Nichols ever treated on his own was a woman who had an ectopic pregnancy—a dangerous condition in which a fertilized egg grows outside the uterus, potentially causing life-threatening bleeding if it ruptures the organ in which it’s growing. She came into the hospital stable. By the time Nichols examined her, she was hemorrhaging. Nichols got her into emergency surgery, where an ob-gyn operated to save the patient’s life. By that point, it was clear there was no other option. But had he been practicing in a state where ending a pregnancy is permissible only when a patient’s life is at risk—and had he seen her just a few hours earlier, when she was stable—“Would I have had to call the lawyer instead of the ob-gyn?” Nichols wonders. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] That question is hypothetical for Nichols, who works in California, where abortion is accessible. But for providers in some U.S. states, it is now reality. In the aftermath of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, about a dozen states—including Arkansas, Missouri, and South Dakota—have banned or will soon ban nearly all abortions (though some state policies have been tied up in court). Typically, these laws allow only limited exceptions, such as when a pregnant person’s life is at risk. But deciding when an abortion is lifesaving isn’t always clear-cut. Consider a p...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized abortion healthscienceclimate Source Type: news